Book: Tomás Nevinson
Author: Javier Marías
Reviewed by: Shelby Grubbs, special master with JAMS and principal at Grubbs ADR
Notwithstanding longish sentences and abundant literary references – particularly to Macbeth – Tomás Nevinson is an easy and enjoyable read.
It became a best seller in North America within weeks of its 2023 publication in English. (It was first published in Spanish in 2021). Notably, The Economist already includes it in a list of the 10 best spy novels of all time.
The book starts with a short essay about two characters, one fictional, the other historical, who are presented – but decline – an opportunity to kill Adolf Hitler before World War II and the Holocaust. A brief meditation follows regarding the morality of killing people to keep them from killing others.
Thus, the stage is set for the title character, a former British spy with dual U.K. and Spanish citizenship. When we meet Tomás, he works in the British Embassy in Madrid. Contacted by his Machiavellian ex-boss, he is offered a mission. Is he up for posing as an English instructor in a small Spanish city where he is to determine which of three local women is a member of an Iberian terrorist organization? Once identified, that woman is to be prosecuted if possible and, if not, “eliminated.”
Tomás takes the gig. Working undercover, he manages to meet — and comes to like — each of the women. Each, he concludes, is plausibly responsible for past bombings and plausibly capable of orchestrating future mayhem. The evidence is ambiguous. And his alternatives are grim: If he fails to identify the terrorist “sleeper,” his handler may kill all three, two of them innocent, and yet, a failure to neutralize the unknown terrorist could mean many innocent deaths.
Serious and wise, but also humorous, Tomás Nevinson has much to say, and for the reader, unlike poor, conflicted Tomas, much to enjoy.
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